548 



REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



UROCYON CINEREOARGENTATUS (Sehreber). 

 GRAY FOX. 



Urocyon cinereoargentatus (Sclireber), Saugethiere, Vol. 3, pi. 

 92, 1775. 



Evermann and Butler, Proc. Ind. Acad. Sci. for 1893, p. 52, 

 1894. 



Hahn, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vol. 35, p. 575, 1908. 



Diagnostic characters. — The generic characters serve to distin- 

 guish the gray fox from other Indiana species. 



Description. — General color of the back, gray; the hairs being 

 banded with black and white or gray; the black predominates in 

 the middle of the back, forming a median dorsal stripe ; tips of 

 the ears and the middle line and tip of the tail also black. Sides of 

 the neck, most of the ears, a band across the chest, the sides of the 

 belly, the hinder and part of inner surfaces of the fore legs, the 

 inner surface of the hind legs and the under part of the tail are 

 all brownish in color, the exact shade varying somewhat in differ- 

 ent parts of the body as well as different individuals. Throat and 

 belly whitish; a spot between the eye and the tip of the nose 

 blackish ; lips mostly white ; form somewhat stouter than that of the 

 red fox. 



A subspecies, Urocyon cinereoargentatus ocythous, has been de- 

 scribed by Bangs from southwestern Wisconsin near the Mississippi 

 River. The Indiana specimens are, perhaps, somewhat interme- 

 diate between this and the typical form. The skin of the only In- 

 diana specimen I have taken was lost and, unfortunately the de- 

 tailed description and measurements of the fresh specimen are also 

 lost. However, I carefully compared it at the time with Baird's 

 description of a specimen from Washington, D. C, and noted no 

 important differences except that the Indiana specimen was tinged 

 with cinnamon over the white of the throat and most of the belly. 



Measurements. — Miller gives the following measurements: To- 

 tal length, 900 mm. (36 in.) ; tail, 260 mm. (IOI/4 in.) ; hind foot, 

 125 mm. (5 in.). 



Skull and teeth. — The striking features of the skulls of the gray 

 fox are the temporal crests which extend along the edges of the 

 dorsal side of the skull (figs. 2 and 14), meeting in the occipital 

 region, diverging anteriorly, and joining with the postorbital proc- 

 ess. The top of the skull between these crests is smooth, while the 

 sides below them are roughened for the insertion of muscles. The 

 rostrum is shorter and ])r()ader and the interorbital region is also 



